Matt Hazzard Resigns as Head of Cooperstown Chamber

Matt Hazzard, Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce executive director for almost five years, today announced he is resigning to concentrate on his family business, Leatherstocking Trolley Co., effective in April.

The three-month notice “will allow the board to do a full search for a new executive director,” he wrote in an email to members. “In the meantime, the chamber will continue to operate in the best interests of our membership and the business community.”

It will also get him through the launch of a new website.

Raised in Fly Creek, Hazzard, a SUNY Cortland graduate with a master’s in management from Colorado State, returned to the Cooperstown area after an eight-year stint with Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.

Signature accomplishments under his tenure include the launching of Cooptoberfest, an annual Columbus Day Weekend event, and revising an annual Labor Day Weekend art show, which had been allowed to lapse.

While executive director, he found he was suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphona. He recovered after treatment, but the discovery spurred an outpouring of support for the business leader and young father/

He, wife Stephanie, the Baseball Hall of Fame education director, and their two young children reside in the Cooperstown area.